showSidebars ==
showTitleBreadcrumbs == 1
node.field_disable_title_breadcrumbs.value ==

Faculty Profile

ZHANG Man, Cyndi's photo

ZHANG Man, Cyndi

Full-time Faculty
Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
LKCSB

BIO

Cyndi Man Zhang is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. She received her Ph.D. from INSEAD. Her research examines behavioral strategy topic and builds on the intersection of the behavioral theory of the firm and institutional complexity to examine the sources of multiple logics and multiple goals and how they impact firms’ strategic choices, such as mergers and acquisitions, and innovation. She is also interested in understanding the power struggles and coalition-building among upper-echelon teams in prioritizing preferred goals within firms’ strategic decision-making processes. Her research generally focuses on understanding the antecedents of bounded rationality in managerial decisions and their consequences for firms’ change and performance. Her research has been published in leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, and Strategic Organization. She is currently an associate editor of the Academy of Management Journal. She also serves on the editorial board of Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Organization, and Management and Organization Review.
 

EDUCATION

2012

Ph. D. in Management (Strategy), INSEAD
2007 B. A. in Business Administration, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University

 

CURRENT POSITION(S) HELD
2025 - Now Academic Director of Chinese EMBA
Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University
2021 - Now Associate Professor of Strategic Management
Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University

2012 - 2021

Assistant Professor of Strategic Management
Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Decision-making; Coalitions; Multiple Goals; Innovation; Institutional Complexity; Digital Transformation

 

PUBLICATIONS
  • Zhang, Cyndi Man., Hu, Helen., and Yoshikawa, Toru. Forthcoming. “Shareholder Satisfaction or Societal Benefit? Coalition Support and Goal Prioritization”. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-025-06018-5
  • Gao, Renfei., Zhang, Cyndi Man., He, Xiaogang., and Li, Zhengyu. 2025. “Attention to Market Expansion: Aspirational Antecedent and Risk-Taking Consequence.” Journal of Business Research, 192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115322.
  • Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2025. “Coalition of Logics and Consequential Decision-Making in Partially Privatized SOEs” in “Research Handbook on Corporate Governance in China”, edited by Conyon, Martin., and He, Lerong. Edward Elgar Publishing: NY.
  • Huang, Kenneth G., Jing, Runtian., Xia, Jun., Zhang, Cyndi Man., Zhong, Weiguo., and Zhu, David. (all authors contributed equally). 2024. "Coevolution of SOEs and the Chinese Economy: The Roles of SOE Heterogeneity from the Institutional, Strategic, and Organizational Perspectives." Management and Organization Review, 20: 704-715.
  • Greve, Henrich R., and Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2022. Lead article “Is there a Strategic Organization in The Behavioral Theory of the Firm? Looking Back and Looking Forward”. Strategic Organization, 20 (4): 698-708.
  • Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2020. “Mergers and Acquisitions as Strategic Decisions for a Decision-Making Theory.” In Finkelstein, S. and Cooper, C. L (Eds.), Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions, Volume 19, 49-64. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
  • Zhang, Cyndi Man., and Greve, Henrich. R. 2019. Dominant Coalitions Directing Acquisitions: Different Decision Makers, Different Decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 62 (1): 44-65.
  • Jia, Nan., Huang, Kenneth G., and Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2019. Public Governance, Corporate Governance, and Firm Innovation: An Examination of State-Owned Enterprises. Academy of Management Journal, 62 (1): 220-247.
  • Zhang, Cyndi Man, and Greve, Henrich. R. 2018. Delayed Adoption of Rules: A Relational Theory of Firm Exposure and State Cooptation. Journal of Management, 44 (8): 3336-3363.
  • Greve, Henrich. R., and Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2017. Institutional Logics and Power Sources: Merger and Acquisition Decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 60 (2): 671-694.
  • Jia, Nan, Huang, Kenneth G. and Zhang, Cyndi Man. 2015. Agency Incentives and Firm Innovation: Patenting Behavior of State-owned Firms in China. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015: 1, 13758.

 

AWARDS
  • Lee Kong Chian Fellowship, 2022, 2020
  • Lee Kong Chian School of Business Dean’s Teaching Honour List, 2024, 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017
  • Outstanding Editorial Board Member of Management and Organization Review, 2018
  • Winner of the Best paper of the DRUID Asia Conference, 2016, Singapore. “State Capitalism, Agency Risk, and Firm Innovation: Evidence from State-Owned Enterprises in China.”
  • Best papers of the TIM division, the Annual Academy of Management Conference, 2015, Vancouver. “Agency Incentives and Firm Innovation: Patenting Behavior of State-owned Firms in China.”

 

EDITORIAL POSITIONS
Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Journal       (July 01, 2025 - )
Co-editor of special issue on Chinese SOEs at the Management and Organization Review, 2022
Editorial Review Board   Strategic Management Journal (2020- )  
Editorial Review Board   Strategic Organization (2019- )  
Editorial Review Board   Management and Organization Review (2014- )  
Ad hoc Reviewer for Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Journal of Management

 

RESEARCH ADVISOR/ CO-RESEARCH ADVISOR TO
  • LIU, BAOPING (bpliu.2021@ckdba.smu.edu.sg), CKGSB-SMU DBA
  • LUO, XUEYAN (xyluo.2022@ckdba.smu.edu.sg), CKGSB-SMU DBA


 

+65 68085322
Curriculum Vitae

Research Areas and Areas of Expertise